Legislators to review state’s food policy Key goal: Feed residents Maine products

AUGUSTA – The Legislature’s Agriculture Committee is set to review this week a new state food policy, which includes provisions for creating a food council, rejuvenating the Agricultural Marketing Loan Fund and infusing the Farms for the Future Program with new funds.

The overall goal, however, is to feed Maine people with Maine-grown food.

“This policy is going to be really important as a guide to where we want to be going,” Russell Libby, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, said Saturday.

“It sets an ambitious goal for Maine producers to provide 80 percent of all food calories that Maine people eat. That is very exciting,” he said. “It means that even if we are shipping potatoes, blueberries and other products out of state, we will still retain a high level of capacity to feed ourselves.”

More than 40 farmers, members of the food policy working group and other interested tradespeople built the plan based on the goal of ensuring an adequate supply of safe, wholesome and nutritious food to Maine residents.

In a report to Gov. John Baldacci in late January, the co-chairmen of the Steering Committee on Natural Resource-based Industries touted the creation of a Food Policy Council.

Its recommendations were partly based on first lady Karen Baldacci’s Local Agriculture Task Force, interim agriculture commissioner Ned Porter said Saturday.

The chairmen – Richard Davies, senior policy adviser to the governor, and Richard Barringer, research professor at the Muskie School for Public Service – stated in the report that Maine producers “have just started to tap the economic potential offered by local markets.

“As local foods become more available to citizens through farmers markets, farm stands, pick-your-own, community supported agriculture, and wholesale and retail outlets that feature local foods, income to producers will increase as well,” the report said. “It is clear that these sectors of our natural resource economy have potential to produce enormous returns.”

According to initial presentations made by the Maine Department of Agriculture, the Food Policy Council will be responsible for drafting a strategic planning process, oversee the state’s Food Policy and insure effective interagency coordination.

“The key is that this will bring all the stakeholders together to sustain the effort of promoting local agriculture,” Porter said. “Its goals are threefold” – bringing a better focus on the state’s local agriculture efforts, educating the public about the benefits of local food and helping Maine farmers meet that demand.

The policy itself lists 12 requirements of a safe, wholesome and adequate food supply for Maine that include sustainability, education, the uniqueness of Maine’s diverse land and climate, enhancing access to food and increasing Maine’s self-reliance on local producers.

The Food Policy Council will be an interagency group that will meet quarterly and consist of members from the state departments of agriculture, marine resources, health and human services, environmental protection, education, economic and community development, and administrative and financial services, as well as the State Planning Office.

The council also will have members from state groups that focus on ending hunger and improving nutrition, nine food industry members, representatives from agriculture and the state university system. The council will have one paid coordinator.

A work session on the policy is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday in Room 206 of the Cross Office Building.